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Hopes are high that a state-of-the-art £2.5m maritime training academy will mark the start of a new era in Liverpool’s close and historic links with the sea.

Port Academy Liverpool (PAL) will provide training for students aged 14 through to adults looking to follow a career in all areas of the maritime sector. The first students will start will arrive in early September.

The Academy’s has been built at the Port of Liverpool’s world famous docks which was also the home port of Capt Johnnie Walker, hero of the Battle of the Atlantic during World War Two.

The centre was set up by Hugh Baird College in Bootle and is believed to be the only education establishment specifically for the maritime sector, which is worth £11-12bn to the UK economy.

PAL director Shulah Jones said: “The opening of Port Academy Liverpool is a great day for not only Bootle, but the whole of Liverpool and Merseyside.

A model of HMS Ark Royal at the new £2.5m Port Academy Liverpool (PAL), part of Bootle's Hugh Baird College (Photo: James Maloney)

“The maritime sector is part of the DNA of Bootle and the Liverpool city region and through the creation of Port Academy Liverpool we aim to provide training and enrichment opportunities for all. One example is the huge demand for marine engineers which we can help fill in the longer term.”

She added: “We’re very much about reflecting on the significant maritime history of Liverpool and the considerable shortfall of people entering into maritime industries.

“Bootle’s history is bound up with the port and the history of seafaring because of its strategic importance.

Some of the maritime flags on display in the main reception area at the new £2.5m Port Academy Liverpool (PAL), part of Bootle's Hugh Baird College (Photo: James Maloney)

“It’s the start of a new era to ignite interest in roles connected to the sea and the port.”

They included Capt Patrick Walker, Johnnie Walker’s grandson, and four RN veterans, one of whom - now aged 92 - knew Capt Johnnie Walker, after joining the Navy in 1942.

Capt Walker said: “It is very exciting to think that my grandfather’s heroic exploits are now being used as an inspiration for future generations of seafarers, rather than just being confined to our maritime history.”

A bust of Captain Johnny Walker at the new £2.5m Port Academy Liverpool (PAL), part of Bootle's Hugh Baird College (Photo: James Maloney)

Commodore Gary Doyle, Royal Navy Regional Commander for Northern England & Isle of Man, based in Liverpool, said: “As a proud Liverpudlian it makes me even prouder to see that our great seafaring tradition is being revived and carried forward here with this superb initiative to educate and train a new generation of seafarers.

“What better place for Port Academy Liverpool to be situated than in Bootle, which has such illustrious links as the port for so much Merchant Navy and Royal Navy shipping, not least during our darkest hours of wartime when it was the home for Capt Johnnie Walker.”

A 7.5-ton Naval anchor, refurbished by Cammell Laird, was unveiled at the ceremony as a permanent public marker at the Academy’s entrance to its newly upgraded and customised premises.

One of the woodwork workshops at the new £2.5m Port Academy Liverpool (PAL), part of Bootle's Hugh Baird College (Photo: James Maloney)

Career prospects for students will range from cruise liner hospitality to marine engineering.